Yep, no contest here. Maxim's jumping prowess clearly made the best FS program today. I love it when Tarasova is happy. Farris unfortunately went splat all over the place and made lots of small mistakes on the jumps, which is a shame because he's been able to nail that program at prior comps. I hope he wasn't injured.

Maybe Farris struggling here means finally he will skate well at Nationals. No need to be peaking right now. Jason on the other hand still needs to work on his 3axel. He stalks it like Rippon does. Otherwise he's superior in most other elements compared to someone like Kovtun for instance.

Watching the guys on reply. Brown had that costly error on the axel and a few other little errors, but as always the program is well-paced and well-choreographed. He can still take away the fact he did do a 3A in competition. He doesn't need to peak at JGPF anyway - the focus should be improving his showing at Nationals and returning to JW for a decent performance with a few more 3As under his belt.

Farris, boy that was hard to watch. Hard fall on the quad, another fall later in the program and some rough landings. Still a beautiful program with good non-jump elements. Hope he peaks later as well.

Congrats to Kovtum, way to get all the hard jumping passes! Though his PCS was a bit high. Can't help but compare that program to Ross Miner's -- the step sequence is not as swoon worthy. So if we had Kovtum's jumps and Ross' great skating style and packaging, we'd have an unbeatable skater! Still he was the rightful winner today.

Haven't watched Hino yet, but congrats to him for the bronze! Also didn't realize he had the same coach as Akiko.

congrats to the medalists!!!! I honestly thought Josh was gonna take this title - and that was a rough fall. But I've so enjoyed him this season, and again, congratulate him on his silver medal!

I'm, of course, delighted to see Jason putting the triple axel in, and since he said he only recently 'got it' in practice, mistakes in competition are to be expected. I am concerned about his stalking approach though. Far too many otherwise excellent skaters who approached the jump in this manner, have failed to 'command' the jump. So, kudos for gaining a new element - here's hoping that at home, they nip that stalking the jump approach in the bud quickly.

Josh had an allergic reaction, mentioned in the icenetwork article. He took a bunch of benadryl and was very sleepy, which probably explains some of the uncharacteristic mistakes. With the way Kovtun skated, even without an allergic reaction he may not have won, but the reaction makes me think his issues today were more physical than mental. He sounds very level-headed in his comments toward the skate and experience, which is nice to see. I agree that this could bode well for Nationals, and Junior Worlds. He can do the same jumps as Kovtun and knows he can probably beat him with a good skate, so there is no need to be spooked. In any event, he's still scored over 210 in all his competitions so far this season, which for junior programs internationally is pretty good, and his scores can still get a lot higher. There might be a lot of pressure/hype on him going into Nationals had he won so maybe this is for the better.

As for Jason, yeah the stalking is not his friend, but at least her got the 3a out in the SP and got credit for full rotation. It's a good step forward. I think Hino on the podium was the right call though, and now Jason knows he'll need to be trying the 3a from now on to have a good shot at medaling, even in junior events. Hopefully once he gets more comfortable with the jump he'll get rid of the stalking.

Hino's comments about winning a medal are so adorable, how he's so honored to be standing with Farris and Kovtun like he thought they were way out of his league despite being the same age and competing on the same level. I think this is a good step forward for him, showing his consistency and technical abilities are finally being appreciated by the judges.

Also, is Plushenko planning on going to Worlds? I know Russia has 3 spots at Euros, but only 1 at Worlds. I would assume Kovtun has a great shot to make the Euros team, and if Plushenko doesn't plan to do Worlds, I could see the Fed sending there if he skates well at Nationals and Euros. There are other strong juniors that can be sent to JW, but among the seniors, Gatchinski is having problems, Menshov has a great quad but is lacking in other areas and not always consistent, and Voronov is boring and has like no artistry & low PCS. I'd like to see Kovtun get a chance to skate senior events this season as he has a great chance to make it to the Olympics next season. If he continues to skate like he has been, he should do quite well at Euros, and even Worlds.

Love Jason but I'm glad he didn't win or make the podium without a 3 axel. It wasn't a big deal at first but it's been 2 seasons since he's been working on this that I feel it's got to be time to try or fail while trying. Maybe this will get him to just do it regardless...or work on a quad or something. It seems like people that have trouble with the axel have a easier time getting the quad.

***Okay I see he was going for the axel which is good. He's going to have to do that for awhile before he gets it

Love Jason but I'm glad he didn't win or make the podium without a 3 axel. It wasn't a big deal at first but it's been 2 seasons since he's been working on this that I feel it's got to be time to try or fail while trying. Maybe this will get him to just do it regardless...or work on a quad or something. It seems like people that have trouble with the axel have a easier time getting the quad.

***Okay I see he was going for the axel which is good. He's going to have to do that for awhile before he gets it

He attempted it at his last JGP; it was DG in the SP and UR in the FS. And Jason did land it in the SP.

The 3A is not an easy jump and sometimes you have to break it down for a while before it clicks. We saw that with Ross Miner with his 3A a few seasons ago. Jason himself said he finally felt at ease (i.e. no UR/two-foots/DG) with the jump last Wednesday, so I'm not surprised that he wasn't absolutely perfect in the attempts.

I think Jason and his team know what they have to do next. I expect improvement at Nationals and JW.